Palmore Remembers The King

By Michael Palmore

September 26, 2016

Many people have “an Arnold Palmer” story. That was his magic. He made everyone feel that they were the only people that had that experience. That is just one reason why he was “The King”. Over the next few days many of these stories will be shared over many golf platforms.

We were fortunate enough to have a few of our own. We decided (and still recommend to anyone!) that when taking our kids to Disney World we would stay at Bay Hill. Traditionally from November to May, Arnold would live at Bay Hill. He would spend his summers in Latrobe. We went to Bay Hill in mid-November 2011 for our first family trip to Disney World. Before going to an evening Christmas Spectacular at the Magic Kingdom, we swam in the pool and hit golf balls at Bay Hill. Everywhere around the resort you see images of Arnold. After spending the afternoon walking around the resort, our children began to become interested in meeting him. They knew that for me meeting Arnold was like them meeting Mickey.

While we were getting ready to go over to Disney for the evening, we stopped by the main lounge at Bay Hill. Sure enough, Arnold was in there holding court. Henry and I waited patiently as he finished talking to a golf group. Having written my business school application essay about Arnold and worked at one of his golf resorts, I had a few things to bring up with him. As he recognized us and waved us over, Henry (after seeing legendary photos of him all day) walked up and perfectly said, “Are you the real and famous Arnold Palmer?” Well, there was no need for me to say anything as that was the perfect introduction. Arnold graciously got in a picture with Henry. We got a drink in the lounge with him and before we left for the real purpose of our trip, the three of us got in another photo.

Here is one of my favorite photos on a different trip where once again we got to hang out with Arnold before heading over to Disney World. It is too long of a good story, but he signed this photo for us during The Masters 2016. Needless to say, we think he is the best. Our family trips to Bay Hill/Disney were obviously very special for the Palmore Family.

P.S. Notice the shirt he is wearing – looks identical to our American team shirts in the 2014 Sea Island matches vs the U.K.

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CHAMPIONS,AWARDS, RECORDS AND PLAYER STATS

Each year, the players compete for the Fountain of Youth Cup, MVP trophy, Spirit Award and most recently the Wooden Spoon.

Click here to learn more about who has won these titles, about the records and stats for all players.

ABOUT US

Since 2003, the Ponce De Leon Invitational Golf tournament has taken place annually all over America and once in Europe in Saint Andrews.

“The Ponce” was a story about 16 buddies and set quite a precedent. I’ve always said that The Ponce…and with the competitive format put together by Neil Thomson and his friends, is the type of trip I would like to plan one day for all of my brothers and friends. I do buddies trips, just not at Ponce level.” –Matt Ginella, Travel Editor, Golf Digest (2008)